Water Reform

We took Ofwat to court in a Judicial Review for failing to prevent customers from being charged twice for water company failures. Despite promising that bill-payers would not fund the clean-up of past pollution, Ofwat approved a 23% price rise for United Utilities (the company responsible for polluting Windermere).

This case, built by campaigners from Save Windermere and Windrush Against Sewage Pollution, and taken forward by River Action, challenged Ofwat’s broken regulatory approach and its reliance on hypothetical modelling instead of real pollution data.

In March 2026, the Court delivered its ruling on our legal challenge. They did not find Ofwat’s approach unlawful. However, our case shone a light on serious regulatory mistakes and gaps, and highlighted the urgent need for reform.

Our focus now is on pushing for the major regulatory changes needed to ensure real oversight and enforcement – so water companies are properly held to account and sewage pollution is stopped for good. This judgment doesn’t mean the water regulator shouldn’t do better. It can, and it must.

Alongside Surfers Against Sewage, we have analysed the Water Commission’s final report recommendations against our five core principles for real reform. Our conclusion? While the Commission makes some useful noises about reform, it ultimately ducks the bold changes needed to end sewage pollution and protect people and nature. You can read our full in-depth analysis here to understand how the Commission performed when measured against our principles – and why the Government must now go much further with its upcoming White Paper.

While we welcome the Independent Water Commission’s efforts to highlight the crisis facing our rivers, we believe the final report falls short of the bold, systemic solutions urgently needed and ultimately offers “the illusion of change – not real change”. Read our full reactive response here.

On 18th June 2025, River Action and Surfers Against Sewage held a crucial Water Pollution APPG meeting in Parliament. MPs had a vital opportunity to demand more, directly questioning Sir John Cunliffe — to urge the Water Commission to show true leadership, provide solutions to uncomfortable truths and difficult decisions, and chart a bold course for real reform.

Before the meeting was held, we ran a campaign asking the public to send this letter to their MP, asking them to attend the APPG meeting in Parliament.

We submitted a joint response with Surfers Against Sewage to the Independent Water Commission for bold reform of the water industry and regulators, urging a new approach that prioritises communities and nature over the broken privatisation model. We tapped into the expertise of top minds to inform our submission, working with renowned academics like Professor Ewan McGaughey, Professor David Hall, and Dr. Laurence Jones to explore smarter, fairer ways of financing, governing, and regulating water companies.

We created a clear, no-nonsense, question-by-question guide to help the public respond to the Water Commission’s Call for Evidence. Hosted on our River Rescue Kit site, the guidance cut through the jargon and made it easy for people to have their say. Almost 5,000 people used it to take action and demand urgent reform of our failing water system.

To highlight the urgency and opportunity behind the Water Commission’s Call for Evidence, we launched “Water: a story of hope” , an animated explainer narrated by Deborah Meaden. The film inspired widespread engagement, reaching over 220,000 views on Instagram. It sparked meaningful conversations around water protection and successfully encouraged the public to share their voices with the Commission.

Through the electrifying March for Clean Water, we unleashed massive public pressure on the Government. Hundreds of communities from every corner of the country joined forces, and our coordinated national media campaign amplified their voices, demanding change on a monumental scale. In the lead up to the march, we wrote directly to Steve Reed, then Secretary of State for Environment, to demand a full review of the water industry and much-needed reform of its regulators.

Our efforts paid off. The Government responded by establishing the Independent Water Commission—and River Action earned a seat at the table.